Cyberczar reportedly to be named next week

The White House could be just weeks away from announcing a cybersecurity coordinator. A source quoted in Federal Times says the announcement is likely around Thanksgiving. The source says two people are in the running, including, Frank Kramer, a former Defense official during the Clinton administration and Howard Schmidt, who leads the International Security Forum. President Obama announced the cybersecurity position in May.

Microsoft has confirmed that it’s just released operating system Windows 7 has an unpatched vulnerability, reports ComputerWorld. In a security advisory, Microsoft acknowledged that a bug in the Server Message Block, a Microsoft-made network file- and print-sharing protocol, could be used by attackers to cripple Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, R2 machines. The so called zero-day vulnerability was first reported by a Canadian researcher who says the flaw crashes Windows 7 so thoroughly that the only recourse is to shut down the computer. Microsoft said it may patch the problem, but didn’t spell out a timetable.